George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 364

George W. Bush’s Great America – Episode 363

< Episode 363 >

Bush’s path to 2009, after his final term, was incredibly arduous.

Europe became a hotbed for racial conflict. In fact, rather than a stage for conflict, it would be more accurate to say it had regressed to a previous era. However, while in the past it was an expression of base hatred rooted in a sense of superiority, now it was replaced by the hatred felt towards invaders who had come to seize their territory.

Africa was quietly stockpiling gunpowder, especially in the north. The moment the giant that was America, blocking their path, stepped aside, that would be the moment the gunpowder ignited. Of course, such a moment would likely not come for at least 10 years. The moment America, which had already established a foundation in various aspects in Africa, relinquished its position would be the moment America began to decline.

East Asia remained still and quiet. As a region with some of the world’s top five powers, there were bound to be elements of conflict, but it was like damp gunpowder. It would take a tremendous amount of time for it to dry.

For the time being, unless a massive meteorite was heading towards Earth, things would remain relatively peaceful.

However, despite America’s busy state, Bush, the very person who had shaped this world, was surprisingly idle.

‘No reports worth mentioning coming up? Hmm…’

Bush suspected that the biggest reason for his downfall in the original timeline, ‘lack of discernment in people,’ was at play, but he quickly dismissed it. It wasn’t so much that he trusted himself, but rather it was based on experience.

If those below were obscuring the president’s view, it should be noisier than this. In other words, at least the media, which was always eager to criticize the president, would seize on any slight pretext and loudly proclaim that it was all the president’s fault.

‘So, in simple terms, they’re handling most things quickly before they even reach here and keeping it quiet because they don’t want to be grilled anymore.’

Of course, the media’s credibility had been shattered long ago, so few people believed everything they said. In any case, he was so bored that he thought about folding paper airplanes with useless documents, but he quickly stopped himself.

He considered creating some work, but with the ‘great tide of the era’ itself already sweeping everything away, he didn’t want to add to it.

He didn’t even think about blocking it with a dam. It wasn’t just because there wasn’t enough time to build one, but also because dams can burst if built recklessly. Without sufficient preparation, you have to think about riding the rapids at the risk of your life, and even talking about resisting or blocking them is out of the question.

Of course, the power Bush wielded and the America that was its foundation were mighty. Because it was the era itself, it could change or block the course of the water. But that was only the case when Bush could fully bear the consequences. If you recklessly change the course of the water, the environment is destroyed. The same goes for the flow of the times. If you recklessly change it, everything around you will be destroyed.

Above all, he would feel sorry for the next president if he caused any more trouble.

‘Then, turning my eyes inward… feels like a lot to handle.’

It wasn’t that Bush hadn’t been interested in internal affairs all along. However, he had been solving problems by diverting all the interest and dissatisfaction within the United States to external issues. If he were to seriously try to fix the internal affairs, there would be no way but to essentially dismantle and rebuild America, but even if he tried to fix it, there was no clear solution.

So, if you ask if there’s really nothing to do, it’s ambiguous, but something did exist. To be precise, it was a project that could be done at the very end, and he had been biding his time.

‘Hmm, the system of units.’

That’s right. He couldn’t address it earlier due to concerns about his popularity, but now that his term was ending, there was nothing he couldn’t do. No, he was planning to cause all the trouble he could before stepping down. The successor would be a bit overwhelmed, but if he couldn’t handle this one thing, he shouldn’t have sought this position in the first place.

“Chief of Staff.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think will happen if I change the system of units to the metric system?”

“What else? There will be countless objections. Even if the government inevitably pushes ahead, the private sector will need astronomical sums of money. There will be a lot of talk about infringing on freedom and so on.”

It was such an obvious thing to say. Even if you wrote down the list of things to change as concisely as possible in the smallest font, you could create a thick sandwich with the documents. And if you start giving reasons why you shouldn’t change it, even if you multiplied the already ridiculous thickness several times over, it wouldn’t be enough. The entire American citizenry living in this vast land is a source of endless opinions. Of course, there will be more reasons not to change than reasons to change.

On the other hand, the reason to change was very simple. ‘It’s more accurate.’ Everything was encapsulated in this one word.

“But are you really going to do it? Frankly, no matter how I think about it, I don’t think it’s a project that can be done in the remaining year.”

“What are you talking about? No matter how much I rush, there’s no way I can completely change the system of units in a year.”

In fact, there is only one way: to really pull in that astronomical amount of money from somewhere and change it all at once. It’s not impossible. You can do it if you want to. The problem is that you can’t handle the aftermath. If I were willing to handle it, I would have done it already.

‘And if I were willing to handle it, I would have caused as much chaos as possible.’

That’s right. Conversely, if he could handle all the consequences, he would have stirred things up as much as possible. It’s not like there’s really no way to do this. The word ‘third term’ flashed through Bush’s mind, but he ignored it.

If he had really intended to be president for life, he should have been working hard to set that direction from the beginning. Of course, even if he had thought about it, he would have automatically changed direction in the middle, saying, ‘I absolutely don’t want to do it!’ while burying himself in those documents.

“All I can do is lay the foundation anyway. The rest will be up to my successor.”

“That’s an uncharacteristically irresponsible tone for you, Mr. President.”

“Am I omnipotent? If I were president in another country, I would have been kicked out long ago.”

Bush chuckled and spoke in a joking tone, but it wasn’t entirely wrong. The things Bush had been doing from the beginning to the present were due to the historically unprecedented strong presidential power and the fact that the United States was such a powerful country that even the new concept of an ultra-great power, which had never existed in the East or West, had to be applied.

Even if Bush knew the future, if he were the president of another country, he could only control the fate of that country, not the world itself. In Bush’s way, difficulties would have been expected in the case of other countries, and moreover, due to the characteristics of modern politics, which requires attention to the emotions of the people, preserving the position of president or prime minister would have been as difficult as picking stars in the sky.

“Yes, the system of units. This is my last great undertaking. I’ll spend the whole year on this. It’s a bit much to say it myself, but I might even get another Nobel Prize.”

Not that he particularly cared if he didn’t get it. Bush added those words and drank his coffee. It was coffee that he had rarely drunk since he had his espresso phase, but still, caffeine. As soon as it entered his body, the vitality that had been dormant like an old man who didn’t know his age surged.

No, he was an old man. These days, 62 years old is barely middle-aged, but by ancient or medieval standards, he was an old man who could die at any moment. In fact, even by today’s standards, it was just such a time to transition from middle age to old age, so it was essentially the same.

“Let’s get started.”

After Bush decided to thoroughly dismantle the system of units that had been tormenting him throughout his term, the first thing he did was to collect documents, which he always did. More precisely, it was to read the ‘black paper’ mentioned above.

This was not as easy as he thought. He had divided them into trivial reasons and important matters, but surprisingly, trivial reasons could become important reasons. The only silver lining was that most of the things used in the private sector had both the yard-pound system [US customary units] and the metric system written in duplicate, but conversely, that was all.

To put it bluntly, everything from the small bolts used in the house of a farmer Smith in a rural village to the farming equipment used inch specifications, so even this had to be overturned. This was not a short-term project, but a long-term project that had to be gradually implemented.

Not only that, but the underlying laws had to be changed first.

‘Still, the records of each state trying to use the metric system in some way remain intact.’

For example, there is the ‘Metric Conversion Act’ from Congress. But now something more powerful was needed. For example, regulations against companies that force all markings to be in metric only, or something really powerful that would completely overhaul American society as a whole.

Of course, each and every one of these measures would cause an uproar in the United States. First of all, the important thing here was that there was no significant inconvenience in real life. If there was a chronic problem in real life, it would be easy to persuade the people, but it was difficult because the people didn’t perceive any significant difficulties.

Even though the United States was leading the world, the opponents of the metric system were rampant, arguing that other countries should follow the United States. So persuasion would be even more difficult. Then there was no choice but to force it, not persuade.

“Still, it’s ridiculous to have joined the Meter Convention [an international treaty standardizing the metric system] and still use the yard-pound system domestically.”

The first justification to push for was this. Next was the sensitive issue of national defense. In fact, the metric system was already being used for national defense. Drones, for example, were manufactured entirely under the metric system, and the specifications of missiles that followed inch specifications were being changed to the metric system.

Even though the power that would weaken because he was not running for a third term would weaken further, what did he care? Bush no longer wanted to be bound by this damn power. Even if it wasn’t a small life of cultivating a vegetable garden on a farm, he had the money to do most of the things he wanted to do.

‘So what? I’ll go down in a blaze of glory.’

Originally, the most frightening person is the one who has nothing to lose. A period of extravagant and chaotic activity based on the world’s most powerful power began.